


The Halloween Visitor

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/F, Humor, Romance, post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-02
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2017-11-17 14:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I forgot you have this adorable sneaky side.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Halloween Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR THE GOOD EARTH!!! I just see Alex with a wife. That’s just me and I'm going to run with it. How excited was I when Alex Blake spoke to me last night as I was falling asleep? Tracee Ellis Ross immediately came to mind when I thought of Alisha.

She never liked Halloween. It wasn’t a bad holiday, people seemed to have fun. She loved scary movies and falling leaves and adorable kids dressed up in adorable costumes ringing doorbells and hustling for candy. Who wouldn’t love that? But Halloween had a dark side as well. 

It was the masks. In everyday life masks could hide any and everything, for a while. On Halloween, Alex understood perfectly where Henry LaMontagne was coming from. Sometimes you just didn’t know which monsters were fake and which were real. When she wasn’t much older than him, her cousin put on a clown mask and scared her witless. 

He was babysitting and made it look like a blackout. Then he jumped out of the closet and scared her. He thought it was hysterical. Alex was just six years old. She was still standing in the middle of the dining room, in a puddle of her own urine, when her parents came home. 

They never let her cousin babysit again and she was officially done with Halloween. For years she faked it. She put on costumes, went trick or treating, posed for pictures, bobbed for apples, and smiled when it was time to smile. But deep down she was petrified, always afraid of what was going to jump out of the closet or come around the corner to get her. On October 30th she was fine, November 1st perfectly normal, but that one day a year Alex felt this loss of control like she was six years old and the whole world was dark. 

When she turned 25 she officially gave up the holiday. It was just another day. She wouldn’t begrudge all the kids, and grownups, who found magic and fun and even a little scare in the day. But she was staying away from it. And now that hunting the monsters was a full time job she didn’t even need one day a year to see the terror behind the mask.

The BAU parking lot wasn’t easy tonight but she surely wasn’t asking anyone to walk her to her car. It was getting darker earlier and Alex looked up at the sliver of moon in the sky as she made her way quickly across the concrete. Her heart was beating faster than normal even though she was pretty glad there were no bushes for anyone to jump out as their idea of a joke. Still, a monster could hide in parking lots too. 

She didn’t feel better until she was locked inside her car. It was only then she could chuckle a bit that at almost 50 this was still something that bothered her. Starting the ignition, she turned off _Thriller_ and wondered how many times people who actually listened to the radio had been subjected to it today. She found Fleetwood Mac on another station as she made her way home to Alexandria.

She was done with work at a reasonable hour so a nice evening at home was possible. She would be alone but that wasn’t something that Alex minded very much. It was the perfect night for her leftover chicken stir-fry, a big glass of wine, and something suspenseful on DVD. Maybe it would be _Kiss the Girls_ , _Wait until Dark_ , or _Shadow of a Doubt_. 

She didn’t want to scare herself witless but a little chill was good for the blood. That was some of the problem she had with the holiday. People forgot the difference between a little chill and scarring someone for life. People were truly inconsiderate that way.

Pulling into the parking lot of the Edgemoore Apartments, Alex saw that there were already families out and about. Lots of tenants there did the trick or treat thing. One year the condo association even sponsored a big Halloween party for kids in the lobby. But tonight Alex just grabbed her bag and went straight to her place. 

She passed Kermit the Frog, a ninja, Jason, Lilo, and Darth Vader on her way. It didn’t surprise her that all of her lights were on; she’d done that electronically from Quantico. But the faint smell of food coming from under her door did make the new profiler take pause. She opened the door, inhaled the smell of smothered pork chops, and then did something straight out of a horror film.

“Hello?” she called out. It was the crazy move; one shouldn’t call out to the killer. Of course the last time Alex checked killers didn’t make their victims meals before slaughtering them. Though she did learn in the BAU that there was a first time for everything.

“Hey!” Alisha Braverman popped her head out of the kitchen and smiled.

“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” Alex smiled as she closed and locked the door. Then she made her way to her wife’s arms.

“I live here.”

“Well I know that.” Alex held her close. “I wasn’t expecting you until next week.”

“The infectious disease conference was canceled. Its typhoon season in Hong Kong you know. I wasn’t initially pleased but started thinking that two weeks off might be better than one. If you feel like putting up with me that is.”

“Are you…?” 

Alex didn’t even finish the sentence. She just kissed her and held on tight. It had been over three months since they’d seen each other. Alisha was in Cambodia, working on the tuberculosis epidemic. It was a 30 week assignment with three nonconsecutive weeks off to visit home. 

But traveling thousands of miles only made for a really tired doctor. The first couple of days home were always spent asleep. Alex never minded watching her sleep but hated that would only have about 4 or so days together before she was off again, saving the world one person at a time. Actually, that’s what Alex was doing now too.

“I got in two days ago.” Alisha said. “I've gotten all the sleep I need. I was so excited; wanted to surprise you. Since I know you well enough to know a surprise near Halloween could put me in the emergency room,” she smiled. “I just decided the smell of dinner would make you feel comfortable.”

“How did you know I was coming home?”

“I didn’t; I cooked every night. Sorry that I didn’t Skype but it would've ruined the surprise. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“The email about the downed power was a nice touch.” Alex kissed her again. “I forgot you have this adorable sneaky side.”

“Did you just call me adorable?”

“I did…and you are. Dinner smells so delicious.”

“Do you want to shower or something?” Alisha asked. “Do you want to change into something comfortable?”

“I'm comfortable right now. And the next time I get in the shower I'm not going to be alone.”

“Yay.” She kissed Alex. 

Sometimes she hated being away. Alisha loved her job and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. She wanted to be a doctor ever since she was a little girl and listened to the stories her father told her of saving lives. Michael Braverman was quite a well-known trauma surgeon. Her mother was no slouch as an oncologist. 

Medicine was second nature in their family. It wouldn’t always be this way, traveling and running and rushing. But for the past five years it had been so fulfilling. Knowing that a little knock-kneed kid from Philadelphia could save people in countries she didn’t even know existed when she went through childhood geography books was intense. 

It was hard, probably the most difficult thing in the world, to always leave Alex behind. Things were awesome when she came back, like the honeymoon all over again. Still Alisha missed the everyday silly things. She missed doing laundry together, going to the market, and cuddling on the couch. She definitely missed bickering about something on the news or in the paper, which she and Alex were good at. 

They used to share the _New York Times_ every Sunday over a ridiculously big breakfast and just breathe in each other’s air. It was something a lot couples who were together all the time took for granted. Some of them even got sick of it. Alisha found she wanted it more than anything most of the time. But they wouldn’t always be apart. They would be together again just like the beginning and it would be good.

“So I thought we’d have some dinner and then watch _The Bone Collector_. That creepy guy you have a crush on is in it. So you can be scared and happy all at the same time.” Alisha smiled.

“Leland Orser is not creepy.” Alex said.

“Babe c'mon, he is super duper creepy in that movie.”

“OK, I concede in that movie he’s creepy but he's supposed to be. The man is an amazing, versatile actor.”

“I find it incredibly sexy that you obsess over a character actor. It’s very you as a matter of fact.”

“He has an indie film coming out next year.” Alex told her. “I don’t know if it'll make it to any of our local theaters. But now I know a person who has access to everything known to man, and some things that aren’t, on the internet. She loves to do people favors.”

Alisha laughed, kissing her and going to walk away. Alex ran her fingers through her hair as she moved.

“God, I missed your hair. I missed the way it falls over your face. I miss the way it falls over mine.”

“The kids love my hair.” she was back in the kitchen, getting plates from the cabinet. “Some of the little girls were just fascinated by it. In the rural areas they’ve never seen people who aren’t Cambodian before. African-American is a completely foreign concept to them; so is Jewish. All they know is I have the best hair ever.”

“I would have to agree with the kids.” Alex smiled.

“Do you want Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc?” Alisha held up two bottles.

“Sauvignon.” Alex pointed to it. 

She put her messenger bag in the chair and took her jacket to the closet. Coming back to the living room, she put on the TV. There would be no news tonight; that was the perfect way to ruin an evening. She turned on the adult contemporary music channel before making her way to the kitchen. Alisha was busying herself making plates but Alex took her hand.

“Come here.” She pulled her close.

“Yes, Dr. Blake?”

“Mmm, I do love when you call me Dr. Blake.”

“That’s who you are.” Alisha kissed her collarbone. “I love you.”

“I love you too. We could just skip dinner and get straight to dessert. And then we’ll watch _The Bone Collector_.”

“I would love to.” she smiled. “But dinner first; I'm sure you need to eat. Then there will be all the dessert you want and _The Bone Collector_. We’re going to have the best Halloween ever…tricks and treats.”

“I don’t like tricks.” Alex said in that nearly patented Alex Blake tone.

“I've known you for nearly a decade and you’ve never been disappointed with a single one of mine. Tonight will be no different. We don’t have to rush; we’re both going to have a lovely time. I think this might go down as your favorite Halloween ever.”

Alex knew that wasn’t going to take much. She also knew that Alisha was going to put her whole heart into making it great. It wasn’t just about the sex, which was sure to be amazing because it always was. That’s why Alex loved her wife so much. She just knew her, likes, dislikes, passions, and quirks. Alisha was attentive and loving, even though most of the time she wasn’t there. Tonight she was and they were both going to make the most of it.

***


End file.
